Mobile x-ray systems, which have C-arms, are used in surgical interventions in the operating room. As a result of the high degree of mobility, the mobile x-ray systems can be easily moved by the medical personnel away from the patient supported on the operating table (patient bed) and back towards the medical personnel again during the intervention. Over the course of rationalizations and when used in small operating rooms, it is advantageous for the relatively heavy C-arm system not to have to be moved too frequently in its entirety. Preferably, only the C-arm with x-ray emitter and x-ray detector is moved within specific limits but not the entire mobile x-ray system. Positions to which the arm has already been moved can be reached once more automatically and precisely.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,826 B1 describes how a C-arm can be moved horizontally and in parallel to a patient bed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,826 B1 claims a movement facility between a C-arm and a retaining facility, with the C-arm being able to be moved in a horizontal direction at right angles to an arm. The C-arm, however, can jam because of the parallel linear guides employed and the weight of the C-arm. An unfavorable lever relationship between an introduction of the movement force and the distance to the linear guides may cause the C-arm to jam.
DE 10 2005 048 391 B3 specifies a stand for a radiation therapy device. The stand includes an adjustable-length longitudinal support arm, an arm supported in the support arm rotatable around a first axis at right angles to the support arm, and a flat detector element rotatable in the arm around a second axis in parallel to the first axis, which is essentially aligned in parallel to the support arm. When the arm is rotated, the parallel alignment of the detector element to the support arm is retained, and with a motor for driving the rotation of the arm. The rotation of the arm is driven by a first gear connected to the motor and the rotation of the detector element by a gear operating in the reverse direction to the first gear connected to the same motor. The layout with a single motor and two gears operating in opposite directions makes precise positioning possible and simultaneously requires little installation volume or space.
US 2006/0120511 discloses a method and a facility for positioning a gantry of an x-ray imaging device in relation to an object to be examined are described. The method and facility make up to 5 degrees of freedom of movement possible.